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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Interview with Lisa Suzanne Author of How He Really Feels

What inspired you to become an author?

I have always loved writing, and I have probably ten or
twenty different stories started on my laptop! But it was my husband who
finally convinced me to publish one of my books. Without his support, I
honestly think that writing would’ve always been a hobby that I enjoyed in my
free time rather than something I actually shared with the world.

How did you come up with the title for your latest
book?

My husband and I walk our dog every night, and our walks
have been seriously overtaken by everything and anything to do with my writing.
So I finished the book and was getting ready to publish, and I didn’t have a
title yet. I just had it saved on my computer as Julianne and Nick. My husband and I talked out ideas, and his
favorite title was Julianne and Nick’s
Secret Office Romance that No One Knows about and You Learn More about Travis’s
Real Feelings… I nixed that one. We brainstormed ideas with different
words, like “Office Romance,” “Workplace,” etc., and then I went a different
route as I tried to come up with something ambiguous. I love the final product,
and I always wonder who readers think the “HE” in the title is… because there
are two men it could be!

Do you title the book first or wait until after it’s
complete?

I try to come up with ideas as I’m writing, but titles
are TOUGH! I came up with the title for Book 1 after I finished writing it, but
I came up with the titles for Books 2 and 3 before I wrote them.

Is the book, characters, or any scenes based on a
true life experience, someone you know, or events in your own life?

The characters are entirely made up, although I like to
think I have Julianne’s confidence and persistence. The story is built around
the inspiration I found in a song, but really, the events are made up. The
people I work with on a day to day basis have become some of my best friends,
so Julianne’s friendships with Lucy and Holly are sort of similar to me in that
way.

What books are in your to read pile?

My TBR is starting to get out of control… off the top of
my head, I want to read Wallbanger by
Alice Clayton, Tarryn Fisher’s Love Me
With Lies Trilogy, Christina Lauren’s Beautiful
Bastard series, Collide and Pulse by Gail McHugh, Lick by Kylie Scott, and anything by
Colleen Hoover, S. C. Stephens, and Jamie McGuire. I just bought Burn by Maya Banks so I have the
Breathless trilogy in paperback, but I haven’t started it yet because I’ve been
editing What He Really Feels.

What is your current “work in progress” or upcoming projects?

I’m currently in the editing process of What He Really Feels (Book 2 in the He
Feels Trilogy), and I just started writing Book 3. After the He Feels Trilogy
is complete, I’m going to start editing another contemporary romance series I
have already written.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging
in your writing?

Editing is always challenging. No matter how many times I
go through my work with a fine-toothed comb, I still find something that could
have been worded differently or a passage that is missing a word. It drives me
crazy!

Do you have to travel much to do research for your
books?

I wish! I use places where I have either lived or visited
as the setting so that I can draw from real experiences. Maybe I should set my
next book in the Caribbean?

Do you have any advice for other writers?

There are two pieces advice I’ve heard from other authors
over and over, and that is to write every day and to write for yourself. I
agree with both of those wholeheartedly, and I think the second piece of advice
is the most important. Write it because you love it, and if someone doesn’t
love it, that’s okay!

Do you have a song or playlist (book soundtrack) that
you think represents this book?

Julianne Becker is desperately in love with her boss, Nick Matthews. She has daydreamed about him since the day she first met him a year earlier, but she is firmly stuck in the friend-zone until New Year’s Eve, when the game completely changes and she finds out how Nick really feels about her.

They embark on a sexy affair that’s everything Julianne ever dreamed of... except she can’t tell anyone about it. What will happen if anyone finds out about their secret relationship? And how will her lifelong best friend, Travis Miller, react when Julianne begins a relationship with someone who isn’t him?

How He Really Feels is a novel that explores relationships and love between coworkers and friends. It contains some adult situations and is intended for mature readers.

About the Author:

Lisa Suzanne is a high school English teacher who lives at home in Arizona with her amazing husband and adorable yellow lab.